1 May 2013
Sykes Wins On Great Day For Kawasaki At Assen

Tom Sykes took a 1-2 today while his KRT partner Loris Baz pushed to take a fifth and then a first dry podium on his Ninja ZX-10R. Now ranked 4th, Tom shares the same points total as two other riders.

Englishman Tom Sykes came close to his first double race win in SBK with a first and a second place finish at Assen, making himself the single highest points scorer of the day with 45. He is now on a total of 83 points so far, the same as two riders above him, but Tom is ranked fourth in the official results.

Young French rider Loris Baz scored two good results in the dry condition that blessed raceday in the Netherlands, the second of which was a strong third place. He had to work for it all race long under pressure from other riders. He leaves Assen sixth in the championship with 58 points.

Superb preparation in the team garage and then a similar performance from Sykes when the flag dropped in race one saw Sykes lead every single one of race one’s 22-laps, the English rider pulling away, setting a new lap record of 1’35.893 on lap two. He was over eight seconds clear at the end for a popular win andKawasaki’s first victory at Assen since 2006.

In the second race today Sykes led for 18 of the 22 laps and despite a late charge to try and take a double win he lost out by only 0.089 seconds.

Baz got boxed in a little of the start of race one but carried good pace and re-passed some riders to take a fifth place, matching his best of the season to that point. He was just less than six seconds from a podium finish. In race two he was on better starting form and pushed hard to stay in third place for most of the second half of the race, and eventually score a deserved third.

Alex Lundh did not ride at Assen after suffering a broken collarbone in practice and his Kawasaki Team Pedercini team-mate Federico Sandi took his Ninja ZX-10R to 16th place in race one and 14th in race two.

Tom Sykes: “Almost the perfect race weekend for us after winning Superpole as well. We have made progress after a slow start to the season so we will build more momentum now to move it all forward again. The bike was working well and was very consistent today. When Eugene came past me in race two I realised it was much easier to follow than to lead round here and it was just unfortunate that exiting the final chicane on the last lap I hit the kerb on the inside when I was trying to pass him, and I was out of the seat. It would have been great to win race two as well but I am happy with the day and we had and the great support at Assen from all the Kawasaki fans and some Tom Sykes fans. Race one was great for us and we did all we could. We have had a very strong winter test programme, learned a lot and have a lot ofinformation and data. Now we are finding where we need to be. Overall I am happy because we did a lot of hard work in free practice yesterday. To be honest I surprised myself a little but the Ninja ZX-10R is working great. We have some great people who fight in my corner and they have given me a strong package so that I can do quite a lot of what I want to do with the bike. That first race was nice and believe me, to see that pit board gap get bigger every lap is magical for a rider.”

Loris Baz: “The last lap was just too long for me because I wanted to get it finished. We went top five and then onto the podium today in dry conditions so I just want to thank all the team and the people in Kawasaki who have made a good job on this bike to make it better for my style and my weight. I thought my pace was good enough to fight in the group ahead of me in race one but I do not know what happened because I had no grip in the rear right at the start so maybe I did not warm the tyre enough. It was strange and it has never happened before, so I lost one or two second and that was already too much to come back. But to finish P5 was good and my pace was strong, as we saw in race two when I got away better.”

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